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‘Green Shoots’ in the Semiconductor sector?

For those who are still searching for "green shoots", there is some good news from the semiconductor sector today.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced today that May semiconductor revenues worldwide were up 5.4% over April. That's the good news. The bad news is that revenues are still down over 23% on a year-over-year basis.

The chart from SIA covering 1996 to the present follows:

Worldwide Semiconductor Revenues
As SIA President George Scalise commented, "The May sales numbers reflect the third-consecutive month of sequential growth for the semiconductor industry." He added that "The sequential monthly increases lead us to be cautiously optimistic about a return to normal seasonal patterns for the industry going forward."

Looking closer to home, sales in the Americas have also been up three months in a row. The chart below shows an over 5% gain from February to March with April growth slowing down and May showing another decent pick-up.

Semiconductor Revenues for the Americas
An important component of tech sector growth --

Since many observers consider semiconductor sales to be somewhat of a leading indicator for the overall tech sector, it is a welcome sign to see some consistent growth. A return to "normal seasonal patterns" implies even better growth in the months ahead.

After the stinky employment numbers reported on Thursday, any good news we can find is certainly appreciated. Let's hope those "green shoots" in the semiconductor sector continue to sprout.


Top 3 Stocks : TDGI, COPI, EESO

The following are the Top 3 Stocks as of Friday, July 03, 2009 3:00:09 PM

#1 Stock is TDGI
TDGI chart

#2 Stock is COPI
COPI chart

#3 Stock is EESO
EESO chart

Humble Thursday: Trend Busters, Swing Signals and Trend Leaders for July 2, 2009

Well, I've been predicting a bit of a rally but today Mr. Market humbled me. Stocks fell across the board, weighed down by poor employment numbers.

Nevertheless, we need to soldier on. This is a quick post to announce that we have published Thursday's Trend Leaders, Swing Signals and Trend Busters at Alert HQ. All are based on daily data.

Today we have the following:
  • 30 Swing Signals -- A week ago we had 300 signals, today one tenth as many. We no longer have a bullish tone in this list: there are only 13 BUY signals and 16 SELL Signals plus 1 Strong BUY.
  • 195 Trend Leaders, all in strong up-trends according to Aroon, MACD and DMI. There are 68 new stocks that made today's list and 71 that fell off Tuesday's list.
  • 18 Trend Busters of which 3 are BUY signals and 15 are SELL signals
The view from Alert HQ --

Our Swing Signals list reflects how the market has wilted over the last couple of days. After a generous helping of BUY signals in the previous few lists, we have now gone into a sort of hibernation.

On the other hand, our list of Trend Leaders is maintaining a certain level of robustness. That is encouraging but there is one caveat. As I have mentioned in the past, there is quite a bit of filtering on the indicators used to generate the list of Trend Leaders so they tend to lag major market moves by a bit. With the market taking a big hit today, a lack of a quick recovery will certainly see the weakness reach our Trend Leaders.

A day like today reinforces the concept that no indicators are immune to major market moves. When the broad market moves lower, many of our BUY signals go out the window. Conversely, our SELL signals do very well on a day like today. The trick is being able to choose the right signals at the right time. But then that's always been the challenge in the markets, hasn't it?

Using the signals --

So, as a humble practitioner of technical analysis, I admit that every signal can't be correct. Alert HQ can, however, provide a filtered selection of likely candidates from which investors can choose. Remember, if you're a momentum trader, the Trend Leaders list is a good place to go shopping. If you practice technical analysis, check out the Trend Busters. And if you are a short-term trader or even a day trader, our Swing Signals may provide some good trading ideas.


Top 3 Stocks : NTNI, SYMW, STHG

The following are the Top 3 Stocks as of Thursday, July 02, 2009 3:00:10 PM

#1 Stock is NTNI
NTNI chart

#2 Stock is SYMW
SYMW chart

#3 Stock is STHG
STHG chart

Top 3 Stocks : XYNH, SYNJ, SYMW

The following are the Top 3 Stocks as of Wednesday, July 01, 2009 3:00:10 PM

#1 Stock is XYNH
XYNH chart

#2 Stock is SYNJ
SYNJ chart

#3 Stock is SYMW
SYMW chart

Month End Tuesday - Swing Signals, Trend Busters and Trend Leaders for June 30, 2009

This is a quick post to announce that Tuesday's Swing Signals, Trend Leaders and Trend Busters are now available at Alert HQ. All are based on daily data.

Today we have the following:
  • 53 Swing Signals -- 37 BUY signals and 13 SELL Signals plus 3 Strong BUYs.
  • 198 Trend Leaders, all in strong up-trends according to Aroon, MACD and DMI. We have 75 stocks that are new additions to the list and 23 that fell off the previous list.
  • 16 Trend Busters of which 9 are BUY signals and 7 are SELL signals.
The view from Alert HQ --

I have been vacationing the last few days so I will freely admit that I have not been following the little daily dramas taking place in the markets this week. What I can see from today's signals, however, confirms my suspicions as voiced in Saturday's post. At that time I said I thought I was beginning to see stocks begin to pull out of their recent swoon. The number of Trend Leaders has doubled since last week. Swing Signals continue to show BUY signals predominating. Things are quiet with our Trend Busters - they are few in number and more or less evenly split between BUY and SELL signals. So two out of three of today's lists have a bullish bias. I am suspecting that will continue. Keep in mind, though, this is a busy week for economic reports. As long the various employment reports, the ISM index and factory orders show some improvement, I think we will see the rally continue.

Using our signals --

If you're a momentum trader, the Trend Leaders list is a good place to go shopping. If you practice technical analysis, check out the Trend Busters. And if you are a short-term trader or even a day trader, our Swing Signals may provide some good trading ideas.


Top 3 Stocks : ZIPN, IGNT, XYNH

The following are the Top 3 Stocks as of Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:00:10 PM

#1 Stock is ZIPN
ZIPN chart

#2 Stock is IGNT
IGNT chart

#3 Stock is XYNH
XYNH chart

IACH - Maybe Money Does Grow On Tree’s

Green is good these days and IACH is trying to capitalize on this growing trend. If money doesn't grow on trees maybe it can be made by investing in a company that produces green products.

IACH released some news today that takes the company in a great direction for shareholders:



Information Architects Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire MAC1 Industries a Leader in Green Energy Solutions

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, Jun 29, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Information Architects Corp. (PINKSHEETS: IACH) announced today that thru its subsidiary IAGreen it has signed a Letter of Intent agreement with MAC1 Industries a Green energy company.

Mac1 Industries (www.mac1ind.com/index.html) offers the next generation of Thin Film Solar Panels as well as state of the art standard and custom LED lighting solutions. Mac1 Industries will also be coming out with a home and business wind generator solution.

Upon the completion/execution of the definitive agreements and customary closing arrangements the parties management will release the details of the acquisition.

Nicole Craig, VP, states this will be the next step into a new and broad future for IAGreen and its Owners. We are daily being presented with many new opportunities and new ventures for IA. In today's economy business is far less predictable and many of the old financial models are simply not relevant to what works now. Even the richest companies are currently struggling to reinvent themselves in an effort to create viable, sustainable forward motion. It seems clear that a well structured small company with strong support from already vested stock holders and a trained eye for emerging technology could rapidly consolidate existing opportunities into real value. Some leading "technologists" predict that next ten years will have more positive impact on the Global economy than the last "Industrial Revolution" times 10. Information Architects is positioned to be a profitable part of the "Change Wave" that is already upon us all.

"Forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 may be included in this news release. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. These statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future results or events. Information Architects Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. There are important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to risks associated with changes in general economic and business conditions (including in the information technology and financial information industry), actions of our competitors, the extent to which we are able to develop new services and markets for our services, the time and expense involved in such development activities, the level of demand and market acceptance of our services, changes in our business strategies, and the purchasing activity or lack thereof by registered web mall members.

William Craig
954 358 7099


For a stock that opened Monday's session at $.0013 this was impressive news. The stock closed at $.0021 on some pretty unimpressive volume. It looks like investors were too busy buying other stocks on Monday.

I think that will change once people see the potential with IACH. Of ocurse I could be wrong... I guess we'll find out.

IACH has been relatively quiet the last several months, with few trades and very light volume. It looks now like things are beginning to heat up.

IACH should be a stock to keep on your radar for the next few weeks.

Top 3 Stocks : SYMW, SPNG, SSHS

The following are the Top 3 Stocks as of Monday, June 29, 2009 3:00:10 PM

#1 Stock is SYMW
SYMW chart

#2 Stock is SPNG
SPNG chart

#3 Stock is SSHS
SSHS chart

NXHD - Its On - Per Company CEO’s Press Release



If a company CEO issues a press release in an attempt to promote his stock you know he means business... or does he know nothing about business? Aren't there people he could pay to accomplish the same task? Ever hear of a stock promoter? Or Advertising? How about penny stock mailers that come on those little post cards? Those seem to work.

Should this CEO be more concerned with the company and less about its stock price? If this company was indeed real and produced real products with real profits wouldn't the price per share reflect the business model in the absence of a CEO shareholder letter? Or was this price evident up until the last few weeks when people were actually buying shares on the open market as opposed to being unable to sell them for any price. This stock has been worthless for the entire year until the last few weeks. Why was there no press release when there was no bid and shareholders were stuck with shares no one wanted to buy?



Here is a little excerpt from the NXHD CEO's 'shareholder letter':

Mr. Surber went on to say, "I think it is important to remind shareholders that the current market capitalization of Nexia's common shares, based upon a price of $.0002, is only about $2.2M, which is tiny relative to many publicly traded companies. It is also important to add that according to Pink Sheets Nexia has traded over Eight Billion Eight Hundred Million shares (8,800,000,000) since June 10, 2009, which is essentially the entire public float."

NXHD has exhausted its last avenue via the shareholder news letter. Almost 10 billion shares have yet to move this stock. That is not a good omen. When the CEO comes out and says $.0002 has some resistance, that is not a good sign either. If he was smart he's be saying "Why isn't this stock at $.01". But I guess he doesn't believe its worth anything more than its current levels, or he's be saying so. All he says it that NXHD's market cap is small. Well when you massively dilute a stock to nothing it tends to get pretty small. And when, hypothetically, you do a reverse split and the price comes back down to the $.0001 level the market cap will be even smaller. So market cap for a pink sheet .0002 stock is really irrelevant. They could issue 100 billion shares and their market cap would increase over 10 fold, yet shareholder's would get shafted. Market cap is easy to manipulate.

If NXHD does not breakout Monday I'd say the odds on it ever breaking out are very slim.

Here are some great words from the NXHD CEO, as he is quick not to note price movements in his stock:

Mr. Surber concluded, "I do not make predictions on price movement in the stock, but it is interesting to note that Nexia has gone from no bid to as high as $.0003 during the month of June. I am sure that many traders who purchased shares at $.0001 and sold for $.0002 or $.0003 are very happy with their 100% to 200% gains. However, selling at those levels seems to have created a lot of resistance at $.0002 level. I am hopeful that shareholder confidence in Nexia can be boosted if the liquidity in the commons stock continues to remain strong."


I love it. When a CEO starts talking about resistance levels you know hes a true pro. I don't remember Ivan Siedenburg talking about VZ's resistance levels when he was on Cramer's Mad Money a few months back, but I'm sure he was itching to get into it.

So .0002 is the heavy resistance. Thanks NXHD CEO. Are there just shareholder profits being taken at that price or might there be another reason for the heavy resistance at $.0002.

Oh and the most important line in the whole letter is right here:

"I am hopeful that shareholder confidence in Nexia can be boosted if the liquidity in the commons stock continues to remain strong"

Liquidity? Is 8.8 billion shares not enough liquidity or does the stock need 25 billion shares to be more liquid. No one has trouble selling now at .0001 but when the bid is gone liquidity will be gone so lets keep the dilution tap closed for now.